Concrete construction



W. S. PIGGINS.

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION,

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 1919.

Patented May 31; 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

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w. s. PIGGINS. I CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. I919-'1,380,324. Patented May 31, 1921.

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flbtow M 0 UNITED STATES wmuxs. 'PIGGINS, OI DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION.

Specification o1 Letters Patent.

Patented May 31, 1921.

Application filed January 30, 1919. Serial 1T0. 273,855.

To all 'wlwmz't may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. Pmems, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ConcreteConstructions, of which the following is avspecification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to concrete, construction and particularly to aunit system by which the structural elements or members, such as columnsbeams, girders, lintels, slabs and other buildmg parts are separatelyproduced at a suitable factory or site, carried to the building site,and assembled in a manner similar to structural steel, such system beingin contradistinction to monolithic forms produced by uring' concrete ata building site or as a building progresses. This present method ofconcrete construction necessitates various kinds of forms and materialand labor incident thereto; slow progress on account of inclementweather and the time required for the concrete to set and becomeseasoned, and, the retarding of other work about such a buildi underconstruction due to the accumulatlon of materials and also a shortage ofmaterial due to limited storing space. It is a fact that small blocksand other forms have been I made away from a building site and thenhauled to said site and 'a small building fabricated, but never a tallbuilding or large structure due to the fact that it is impossible to tieand bind small building gnaterial to rovide a rigid and safe largestructure.

ith my umt or pro-cast system, it is possible to expeditiously andeconomically construct a lar e buildin similar to assembling structuresteel an obtain ractically the same degree of rigidity or sa et'y factoretgial to that provided by structural steel. T e system permits ofstructural members being fabricated at a plant where the structuralmembers may be proper] reinforced by metallic rods, fabric and 0t ordevices; umformity insured as to sizes' perfect seasonmg or curingobtained, an more elaborate structural members. produced than what couldbe made at a building site or du the construction of a building. The use0 temporary forms, material and labor incident thereto are completeleliminated, since thestructural shapes an sizes are such as to permit ofpermanent molds being provided for immediate use.

M unit or pro-cast system also includes the mding or-tying together ofgirders, beams and pre-cast slabs entering into a floor oiwallconstruction into a homo neous mass whichwill add rigidity to t efinished structure and at the same time permit of a mosaic finish beingobtained for floor or wall surfaces.

My invention ssesses many other advanta s that will be apparent to thoseskllle in concrete work, and as illustrating the preferred embodimentsof my construction, reference will be had to the drawings,

wherem Figure 1 is a side elevation of 'a portion of a structure 1naccordance with my unit system construction;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the manner of umting beams withcolumns;

Fig. 3 1s a plan of the same showing the beams provided with anchoringmembers;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of a beam supporting additional beamsfor pro-cast floor slabs with a finished floor thereon;

Fig. 5 is a plan of a floor beam;

Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views of the ends of beams;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the floor construction; and I Fig. 9 isa side elevation of the same, partly broken away and partly in section.

In describing my invention by aid of the views abovereferred to, Idesire to point out that the same are intended as merely illustrativebfstructural members by whic I my unit system of construction may be .putinto practice, therefore I do not care to confine my invention to therecise members and arrangement thereof s own. The following descriptionis to be broadly construed as including such substitute construction andarrangement of parts which are the 0bvious uivalent of those to behereinafter referr to.

Oonsiderin Fig. 1 showing a portion of a buildin ramework 1 denotesfootings that may cast or molded on the building site or when used forsmall buildings at a s ecial factory for roducing the same.

hese footin may and reinforce but mounted in said footin are a pluralityof angle plates by which 00 umns or uprights 3 are connected to thesuitably anchored footings. The angle plates in the footings arepositioned so as to form a somewhat rectangular inclosure or socket forthe the.said bolts. The bolts 4 may extend all between the angle plates2, sai

the way through the lower ends of the columns or be simply anchoredtherein so that after the columns are properly ositioned columns may beconnected thereto and become a part thereof.

The columns 3 may be rectangular in cross section-and reinforced bylongitudinal and transverse members 6 and 7. The reinforcing members 6and 7 may be inthe form of twisted or straight rods, tie wires, expandedmetal or any well known .form of metallic reinforcement. As shown inFig. 9, a longitudinal reinforcement member 6 may be placed in pi es,ferrules or sleeves 8 and the ends of t e members 6 screwthreaded so asto receive nuts 9. The sleeves or ferrules 8 are particularly usefulwhen other reinforcing members are articulated with the reinforcingmembers of the columns 3.

As shown in Figs. -2 and 3 it is posible to construct the columns withrecessed vertical edges or corners and as a matter of fact the columnsma be made of any desired cross sectional shape. The upper ends of thecolumns 3 are adapted to suport, beams, some of which have beendeslgnated 10 and 'others 11. The beams 10 may have the ends thereofprovided with rectangular or substantially triangular shaped heads 12and 13, the heads 12 permitting of a plurality of the beams 10 oiningeach other on top of a column w1th the metallic reinforcements of thecolumn extending through the heads and anchored relative thereto. Theheads 13 permit of the beams 10 being firmly set on such columns formingpart of an outer wall or even an intermediate column as shown in Fig. 1.The beams 10 may be rovided with longitudinal metallic rein orcingmembers 14 and the ends of said members looped orrovided with eye 15 sothat the longitu mal members 6 of the columns 3 may extend therethroughand thus tie the beams 10 to the columns 3 by metallic means in additiontocement or other material used forbinding omts of the structuralmembers. l The ends of the beams 10 and 11- are provlded with anglelates 16, similar to the angle plates 2, sai angle plates 16 hathehorizontal lportions or fia' thereo embedded in t e beams and t evertical flanges or rtions thereof extending upwardly at t e outer sidesof the heads 12;

and 13 to form an inclosure for the lower end of another column that maybe seated on the heads 12 and 13 and connected to the an le plates 16.

e beams 10 and 11 may be used as floor supportin beams or, girders andthe beams 11 difier rom the beams 10 in havin longitudinahseats 17 forfloor slabs 18 t at are pre-cast. It is preferable to use the beams 11at the side walls of a buildin Y and use the beams 10 intermediate thewal s thereof,

so that the confronting edges of the floor slabs; 18 ma rest on thebeams 10 and be anchored re ative thereto.

diate floor beams, as well as the floor slabs These interme- 18, mayhave the metallic reinforcements thereof protruding from the uppersurfaces of the beams and slabs, "as indicated at 19, and a finishingfloor 20 ma be laid on the floor slabs so as to bind al said slabstoether as a homogeneous mass, with the finishing floor extendingbetween the confronting ed es of the floor slab onto the intermediateoor beams, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The depending portions of thefinished floor have been desi ated 21 and when the finished floor is laiby pouring or the use of cementitious material, then the entire floorarea of a building may become a homogeneous mass relative to the beamsand the heads thereof, as best shown in 8 and 9.

I attach considerable importance to the floor construction since thefloor slabs may be pro-cast and expeditiously placed in position, incontradistinction to ordinary hollow tile floors which require scantlingand forms until such floors have set.

So far there has been described the main essential members of a buildingthat will enter into the skeleton framework thereofi similar to theskeleton structural stee framework of an ordinary building, and it isnow obvious that other structural members, as lintels, sills, frames,cornices and interlocking parts may be made away from a building site,hauled thereto, and expeditiously and economically fabricated to providea buildin framework that will sustain considera 1e weight and withstandstresses and strains similar to structural steel. Since the molding ofall the structural units may be carried on under proper conditions, andthorough mixing and seasoning, it is plossible to expeditiously erectbuildings wit out any' delays incurred by inclement weather and wit outotherwise being delayed by the accumulation of mai teria l What I claimis v In concrete construction, the combination of a column havin lotudinal 'reinforc ing members exten beams having heads a utting eachother on said column, said'beams having longitudia ve its upper end,

110;]. mimfoming 03f ioiwltuun O Wwh scelmts a Hm beam substantially"parallel ta :1: magi nudma]; mus we 01;-

numg upward above aim flaziges of the 11mm mgmhsr & saekfit m mcei'm511w Emma @1152 of motile? column amed 0n slaid beam emis and mmmst adso ibhe vertical saic? angia plates.

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